School Dinners and FAT lazy parents!! Grrr
Discussion
I just watched the BBC News at 10, one of the headline stories is that people can't be arsed to work in case their benefits get taken away - bad enough yes.
However, I was a little confused when they interviewed a woman who was morbidly obese saying she could not go to work as she would not get her benefits, so she does not want to work, however she want's us to pay for her to continue becoming a gravity object in the solar system and she is whinging her daughter won't get free food at school!
Judge for yourself here http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17770152
WTF!!
However, I was a little confused when they interviewed a woman who was morbidly obese saying she could not go to work as she would not get her benefits, so she does not want to work, however she want's us to pay for her to continue becoming a gravity object in the solar system and she is whinging her daughter won't get free food at school!
Judge for yourself here http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17770152
WTF!!
I thought what she said was that she was better off at home. Frankly if I was going to have a choice of stacking shelves 8 hours a day and earning less than sitting on my arse all day watching TV for more money I think I know which one I'd pick.
The answer is to cut the benefits, which is what will be happening from next year. Let's face it, if she had to give up some of her food to feed her children, it wouldn't be too much of a hardship.
The answer is to cut the benefits, which is what will be happening from next year. Let's face it, if she had to give up some of her food to feed her children, it wouldn't be too much of a hardship.
Jackleman said:
woman who was morbidly obese saying she could not go to work as she would not get her benefits, so she does not want to work
I saw it earlier and what she actually said was she wants to go back to work but its not financially viable. Trust PH to misrepresent somebodies words. This is a major problem that people can end up worse off by going to work. Simpletons would say 'just cut the benefits' but cutting benefits doesnt mean there's any more jobs out there. Having worked in a Job Centre perhaps I know more about the technicalities of how benefits work than most and its been obvious from the start that over simplification of the system will result in problems like this. The 'cliff edge' effect as it were. Personally I think with the billions we throw at education all meals should be free for all students, but there you go.
Better off on benefits?
No surprises there, until we get rid of means testing it will always be the same.
The answer is not to cut benefits but to change how they are distributed.
A flat rate benefit system would be far simpler for the genuinely needy to claim and wouldn't remove the incentive to work as earning would make no difference to payments.
Time limits or caps on total payments could easily control costs.
Some benefits could be related to how much you've paid in so if you contribute all your life you get a generous payment but if you sit on the sofa all your life you get nothing.
Amazing how people can think that kicking the needy in the teeth, extra forms to fill in to try to "identify the needy" AKA "keep bureaucrats in jobs" and a system that makes you worse off if you work will magically improve things.
Seriously, why do so many people see getting more and more of what nobody with any sense would want as a solution?
No surprises there, until we get rid of means testing it will always be the same.
The answer is not to cut benefits but to change how they are distributed.
A flat rate benefit system would be far simpler for the genuinely needy to claim and wouldn't remove the incentive to work as earning would make no difference to payments.
Time limits or caps on total payments could easily control costs.
Some benefits could be related to how much you've paid in so if you contribute all your life you get a generous payment but if you sit on the sofa all your life you get nothing.
Amazing how people can think that kicking the needy in the teeth, extra forms to fill in to try to "identify the needy" AKA "keep bureaucrats in jobs" and a system that makes you worse off if you work will magically improve things.
Seriously, why do so many people see getting more and more of what nobody with any sense would want as a solution?
cymtriks said:
Amazing how people can think that kicking the needy in the teeth, extra forms to fill in to try to "identify the needy" AKA "keep bureaucrats in jobs" and a system that makes you worse off if you work will magically improve things.
I worked for the DWP and the sheer level of bureaucratic form filling nonsense is quite sensational. The DWP's own systems cost the taxpayer about half as much as benefit fraud due to simple clerical mistakes which could be avoided with a simpler system.It's very difficult for people working with the current system to give people the support they actually require, so often you can be on the phone with somebody and you as a human understand the problem and know what they need but computer says no.
The problem with replacing it all very simplistically with a universal credit is so many other benefits are tied in with the things they're trying to change, such as the school meals thing here. It smacks of an administration which hasn't fully thought it through.
Just start the whole system all over again.
One benefit (With Disabilities etc still in) worth Just not quite comfortable to live off, but can live off it.
E.g. just enough to survive, varying with area.
Want any more, you work for it.
After ten years, all payments stop. If you haven't got yourself going after ten years, tough.
One benefit (With Disabilities etc still in) worth Just not quite comfortable to live off, but can live off it.
E.g. just enough to survive, varying with area.
Want any more, you work for it.
After ten years, all payments stop. If you haven't got yourself going after ten years, tough.
martin84 said:
I saw it earlier and what she actually said was she wants to go back to work but its not financially viable. Trust PH to misrepresent somebodies words. This is a major problem that people can end up worse off by going to work. Simpletons would say 'just cut the benefits' but cutting benefits doesnt mean there's any more jobs out there.
Having worked in a Job Centre perhaps I know more about the technicalities of how benefits work than most and its been obvious from the start that over simplification of the system will result in problems like this. The 'cliff edge' effect as it were. Personally I think with the billions we throw at education all meals should be free for all students, but there you go.
Surely it depends on what job she gets as to whether it is viable, she obviously does not aspire to much and I see that as a form of laziness when she is scrounging off the state, basically she is comfortable where she is. Having worked in a Job Centre perhaps I know more about the technicalities of how benefits work than most and its been obvious from the start that over simplification of the system will result in problems like this. The 'cliff edge' effect as it were. Personally I think with the billions we throw at education all meals should be free for all students, but there you go.
swerni said:
martin84 said:
Jackleman said:
woman who was morbidly obese saying she could not go to work as she would not get her benefits, so she does not want to work
I saw it earlier and what she actually said was she wants to go back to work but its not financially viable. Trust PH to misrepresent somebodies words. This is a major problem that people can end up worse off by going to work. Simpletons would say 'just cut the benefits' but cutting benefits doesnt mean there's any more jobs out there. Having worked in a Job Centre perhaps I know more about the technicalities of how benefits work than most and its been obvious from the start that over simplification of the system will result in problems like this. The 'cliff edge' effect as it were. Personally I think with the billions we throw at education all meals should be free for all students, but there you go.
Clearly the answer isn't none.
What is more likely is there are no jobs she wants to do (huge assumption I know) that put her in a better positions.
Clearly I'm a tard because I'm still going to say, cut her benefits, she'll find something.
However, for me, the real question is how could a situation ever have been allowed to be happen where benefits brings in more than working?
That is the fundamental problem right there. This should never have been allowed to occur. Because it has, we now have the culture we do and all the problems that go along with it.
roachcoach said:
However, for me, the real question is how could a situation ever have been allowed to be happen where benefits brings in more than working?
That is the fundamental problem right there. This should never have been allowed to occur. Because it has, we now have the culture we do and all the problems that go along with it.
My best guess - the quest for a "fairer" society by redistributing income from the top to the bottom. However, rather than acting as a morally uncomfortable safety net for some people it's now a comfortable pillow provided by Nanny State.That is the fundamental problem right there. This should never have been allowed to occur. Because it has, we now have the culture we do and all the problems that go along with it.
It's the age old thing; you need to cut something, and any cut is going to upset the people who are losing something. Free school dinners is not something that can easily be cut incrementally - you either get them or not - and hence the point at which they are lost is going to be a bit of a sharp cut-off.
Throw in the "Think of the Children" aspect, and the fact that a LOT of people get free school dinners in some areas, and you have the potential for a mass outcry.
Making cuts must be very difficult - whatever you cut will cause the disenfranchised group to complain, and given that the media loves a good sob story there will always be press coverage. Everyone 'knows their rights' and it's perceived as poor PR to have little Tabatha (or, more likely, Ahmed or Lay-a or Leroy) on TV saying "I'm no longer eligible for XYZ benefit". The sooner people realise that the government - no, the country - is deeply in debt and there is no money left, the better.
To borrow a phrase from someone much brighter than me, "It's not a question of what your country can do for you, it's a question of what you can do for your country".
Oli.
Throw in the "Think of the Children" aspect, and the fact that a LOT of people get free school dinners in some areas, and you have the potential for a mass outcry.
Making cuts must be very difficult - whatever you cut will cause the disenfranchised group to complain, and given that the media loves a good sob story there will always be press coverage. Everyone 'knows their rights' and it's perceived as poor PR to have little Tabatha (or, more likely, Ahmed or Lay-a or Leroy) on TV saying "I'm no longer eligible for XYZ benefit". The sooner people realise that the government - no, the country - is deeply in debt and there is no money left, the better.
To borrow a phrase from someone much brighter than me, "It's not a question of what your country can do for you, it's a question of what you can do for your country".
MonkeyMatt said:
What got me is how bloody discusting those dinners looked and how they are served and eaten on a big plastic tray! Non of the kids could use their knives and forks either!
Yup, I noticed that too! They looked horrible! Oli.
MonkeyMatt said:
What got me is how bloody discusting those dinners looked and how they are served and eaten on a big plastic tray! Non of the kids could use their knives and forks either!
We used to have ours served on plastic trays in the 80s. I always thought it was good preperation for prison 
Blue62 said:
The central point of the story is about free school dinners, despite the OP's best efforts, the woman in the story is far from 'morbidly obese' and if she is living in a system that makes her better off by not working then it's hardly her fault is it?
She is living off other people. Just because you can do something doesn't necessarily mean you should. What happened to pride and self-respect ?Countdown said:
Blue62 said:
The central point of the story is about free school dinners, despite the OP's best efforts, the woman in the story is far from 'morbidly obese' and if she is living in a system that makes her better off by not working then it's hardly her fault is it?
She is living off other people. Just because you can do something doesn't necessarily mean you should. What happened to pride and self-respect ?With regards to the school dinners thing, my ex-wife got in touch the other day about this (yep she is now a benefits scrounger) she asked if I'd consider increasing my maintenance as she/the babes are no longer eligible for said school meals. I considered saying yes until she told me that it was £40 a month per child at which point my eyes watered. Mo wonder the gov want to do away with them, must be costing a fortune.
Feel sorry for my own children though as I doubt her cooking/food prep has improved since the divorce.
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